environment

Residents want creek cleaned up

Raw sewage from David and trash from several communities has polluted a creek that runs to the sea

LA PRENSA

fetid: Members of the Comité por Quebrada La Verguenza say that odors from the dirty creek are "contaminating" residents. 1018762

The 22,000 residents of the 17 townships on the banks of the Quebrada La Verguenza, a deep gulch in Chiriquí province, have called on authorities to clean up the creek that runs through it, which they say is badly contaminated.

A pipe near David´s Avenida Quinta reportedly discharges raw sewage into the ravine, to which locals add garbage, resulting in a foul-smelling 19-kilometer health hazard that flows out to the ocean.

Enrique Caballero, a member of the Comité por Quebrada La Verguenza, said that the authorities should help control pollution in the area.

"It's a danger, especially for children, who pass by there everyday," he said. "Others fear that at any moment they might fall into the creek and die from exposure to pollutants."

Caballero explained that the creek had been cleaned up some years back, but not completely, and that each year the situation gets worse. "It's incredible that the authorities are aware that this creek is a consistent source of pollution, and they do nothing to clean it. And then there are all the people living in this area, having to breathe its fetid odors, which in the long run is contaminating us."

Daniel Robleto, the director of the Consejo Nacional para el Desarrollo Sostenible, said that a project has been proposed to clean up the gorge, but that it will cost $3 million, and the agency only has $300,000.